Applications for the Betty and E.P. Franklin Grant in Tropical Biology and Conservation are now being accepted. UCLA graduate students planning tropical fieldwork are encouraged to apply before May 3, 2015. Please click here for more information.

Applications are now open for the Congo Basin Grant Program, which is offered by one of the Center for Tropical Research's partners, Conservation Action Research Network (CARN). The program provides competitive research grants of up to $5,000 USD for African graduate students and early career professionals working in the areas of biodiversity, conservation and environmental sustainability in the Congo Basin region. Download an informational flyer or visit the CARN website to learn more about this opportunity.

The Center for Tropical Research's 2014 newsletter is now available online as a PDF. It features articles by Senior Research Fellow Timothy Bonebrake, Graduate Student Rachel Johnston, and UCLA Geography Graduate Student Tom Narins.

The Central African Biodiversity Alliance (CABA) has been featured on the National Science Foundation's website. The National Science Foundation funds CABA through the Partnerships in International Research and Education (PIRE) program, which supports innovative, international research and education collaborations.

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014, the U.S. Department of State Facilitation Team of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) welcomed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as one of its newest partners, along with Drexel University and the University of Maryland. For more information on the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), please visit pfbc-cbfp.org.

CTR Senior Research Fellow Milá Borja has been studying juncos throughout Colorado as part of his work for the Spanish National Museum of Natural Sciences. More updates from his field expeditions are available here.

According to research by UCLA professor Peter Narins, CTR Faculty Affiliate and Steering Committee member, Puerto Rican coqui frogs have decreased in size by 10 percent over 23 years, probably as a result of climate change. Their smaller size means the coquis' calls are higher in pitch, which will likely cause a decrease in their reproductive success.

UCLA forges new partnership to promote the conservation and responsible management of the Congo Basin’s tropical forests

The University of California, Los Angeles has officially joined the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). By doing so, UCLA affirms that their activities in Africa are consistent with the very principles within the cooperation framework of CBFP members to advance sustainable management of forest ecosystems and conservation of biodiversity in Central Africa.

Tracking animal migration patterns has important scientific implications. Such monitoring helps predict responses to changes in climate and land use. It also assists with disease control if migrating animals carry infection. However, monitoring these movements over long distances and across time presents a challenge. To meet these challenges, a team of scientists with the Migration Interest Group: Research Applied Toward Education (MIGRATE) network has developed inexpensive technologies and training programs so that a broad cross section of international scientists can follow highly mobile animals."

"Thomas Smith, an ecologist at UCLA, and his team from the US, UK, Cyprus, and The Netherlands, found that satellite data, combined with traditional field studies, could help them predict the variations in singing by the common little greenbul (Andropadus virens, pictured), a songbird found in many habitats across Africa.

The study, published online in Evolutionary Applications, not only shows how bird songs can vary, but demonstrates how combining satellite data with field studies can trace the evolution and variation of any species. It is also the first study to ever use satellite data to track variation of earth-bound species of animals or plants.

The Central African Biodiversity Alliance is an international partnership that seeks to develop an integrated framework for conserving central African biodiversity under climate change that is both evolutionary-informed and grounded in the socioeconomic constraints of the region. At present, this partnership is funded by the National Science Foundation-Partners in International Research and Education program and the Arcus Foundation.

CTR Receives New Grant Support

Tom Smith and CTR colleagues Katherine Gonder (University of Albany ) and Nicola Anthony (University of New Orleans) received a five year $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation Partnerships in International Research and Education (NSF PIRE) program. This exciting project will unite senior investigators, junior researchers and students from the U.S., Africa and Europe into a common research and education plan centered in Gabon and Cameroon, Africa. A major emphasis of the PIRE project will be to collectively build an undergraduate and graduate educational program that will partner U.S. and African students in a common learning environment and provide them with cutting edge skills in the biological, environmental and social sciences. The overall research goal of the grant is to develop an integrated framework for protecting and managing central African biodiversity under climate change that is both informed by evolution and sensitive to the socioeconomic constraints of the region.

The Center for Tropical Research, located on the third floor of La Kretz Hall, is part of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. For general inquiries, contact Christa Gomez, CTR Office Manager, at (310) 206-6234, or by email at cgomez@lifesci.ucla.edu. Visitors are always welcome.